History of Rollo(nia)
The written history of Rollo begins at about 78 FE, a week after the Nøryan expulsion from their homeland of Vargul by the dwarves. For information about the continent, click here. History Note; The information below is taken directly from the source, and thus is messy and probably contains many errors and contradictions to other pages. The human history of Rollo begins relatively late during the First Era, when the Norgic refugee clans from Vargul land on the shore of the lands we know today as being owned by Centen. When they came in contact with the native orcs, relations were friendly at first; they communicated and sometimes traded furs. Eventually the Noryans set up small villages around the coast of what they named Vorunheim. Some Noryans also landed on the mainland of what we know today as Watersend, and met with the native Men known as the Kellds. This relationship however, did not start off well. The Kellds were immediately hostile, but in the way that they were "testing" the Noryans. The Noryans passed this test, and beat the Kellds off of the mainland. When the Kellds greeted them in the highland with peace, relations between them were friendly again. After about five decades, there was interbreeding amongst the Noryans and the Kellds, and from them the Gales were the offspring. Being rejected by their Kelldic neighbors, they turned to the Noryans as kinsmen, and became influenced by their culture. During this time, the Noryans also met with the Yills, but this was obviously a short-lived encounter as the Yills were extremely hostile to them and the Noryans simply continued the Kelldic custom of wall-building to keep them out. In Vorunheim, the Noryans were already spread out all over, and became influenced by the religion of the orcs (though both the Noryan pantheon and the Rollonian orcish pantheon turned out to be very similar anyway), and they built statues to their gods on top of a mountain summit, that was carved out many eras ago by a powerful force that they believed to be Voðenn, their chief god. During this time, they also travelled east and met with more native humans, in the land the natives referred to as "Vrolin". These natives were anti-nomadic, and bore polarms against the Noryans for leaving their native home, thinking them dishonorable. Displeased with this, the Noryans, bearing superior arms and armor, conquered the native "Vrolls", where forced peace lasted a while. Meanwhile in the western part of the land, the Noryans met with both the native inhabitants of what we know today as Hjornsheim, with whom they became fast allies, and the civilized elf kingdom that they called Alfheimr, with whom they immediately conflicted with. The Noryans who found the place, of whom there were fifty three men, came without intentions to fight. When they found the forest, a third of them were immediately peppered with arrows and fell dead, with the rest fleeing to give news of this. The Noryans then marched off to war with the elves, whom, with superior arms and armor, were destined to win. However, due to complications within Alfheimr, there were only wood elves in the forest to deal with, whom were excellent archers but sup-par at best at melee combat. With this the wood elves were butchered, and those who weren't fled to the Alfheimr mainland. The Noryans named this newly conquered land "Rollonheim", after Bard Rollond. Eventually in Vorunheim, however, border incidents occurred between the Noryans and the orcs, zealous worshippers of the "True Noryan Pantheon" were furious of their kinsmen bringing foreign gods into their pantheon, and a group of five of them snuck into an orcish settlement and stabbed their chieftan to death, along with his sons. This angered the orcs, whom descended upon the Noryans and burned two of their settlements to the ground, killing the perpetrators of the crime. Not long after, the Noryans declared war on the orcs, and their Kelldic and Galelandic allies assisted them. The goal of the war was mainly to keep each other at bay, which lasted for a while with little casualties (though the orcs caused quite a bit of damage against the Noryans when they took back Vorunheim). Soon the second era came, and the pure Noryan and native blood of the Men of Rollo eventually became mixed through interbreeding. The newly created race of Men were called Rollonians, and they did not differ much from True Noryans (except they were usually taller and many were red-haired instead of blonde). With this the Konungr of the newly founded Kingdom of Rollonheimr became the dominant nation of the continent, and the petty clan-kingdoms of Hjornsheim, Vorunsheim, Norjarn, Kelheim and Vrollenheim were under his command. As with the Noryans of Vargul, the Rollonians of Rollo began sending out Vikingarnir sea raiders, to bring back riches and glory. This returned them to their former infamy that got them forced out of their homes, and in the mid-second era, trouble brew. A new kind of invader came, and they marched from a canyon pass in northern Hjornsheim. They came in waves, the first wave was little over a hundred men, all on horseback wielding bows and sabres. These nomadic warriors, recognized by the Rollonians as the Aryah-descended tribes of the Kharang, descended upon the Rollonians without warning, taking them by surprise. Though much havoc was wrought, the garrison of the local hold eventually sallied out and bore polearms and crossbows against these horse archers, dealing with them in a matter of minutes. When the first wave of nomadic warriors was dispatched, the next day more Aryah-descended men marched into Hjornsheim, this time on foot, and they bore polearms of curved blades and longbows against the Rollonians. The villagers fled and the garrison sallied out once more. This time they met with casualties, the men were recognized as the Otomani, notorious for their deadly Janissary archers. Despite this, when the Rollonians gathered into a formidable shield wall, they made quick work of the desert men. The garrison set up around the village, preparing for another attack to come, and it did come the next evening. This one was the most devastating, for the invaders were recognized as the Ecosians and more Otomani, and the Ecosian cavalrymen bore two-handed maces and lances atop horses as armored as they were. If not for the defenses set up around the village, the Rollonians would have surely been defeated already, but suddenly many more Rollonian men arrived armed to the teeth at Hjornsheim. With their forces bolstered, the Rollonians fiercely dispatched the remainder of the Aryah invaders. Meanwhile, on the shores of Vorunheim the Aelo-Burslanders again invaded, but this time they had a lot more men. Their landing party drove a harsh, sharp wedge into the lands of Vorunheim, and split Rollonheim in half again. The Vorunheimr refugees that were forced into the western half of the land found their kinsmen struggling with other invaders in Hjornsheim, and thus helped them. The western half of the land was then defended heavily, and the passage to get through to it was narrow and none could pass without being seen. This led the Aelo-Burslanders to instead make incursions into the eastern half of the land, attacking the fewer and disorganized refugee clans and the clans that were already there. They forced many into Kelheim, Norjarn and Vrollenheim, where they were welcomed and armed. During this time, there were complications happening in Vrollenheim between the Vrolls and the Rollo-Noryans, and the western half was occupied with another incursion of Aryah invaders. Being at a point where they could not be threatened, the Aelo-Burslanders set up encampments in Vorunheim, and burned down many idols to the Rollonian pantheon. After a few days of border skirmishes, the Aelo-Burslanders were re-inforced. A couple hundred more men landed at the shore of Vorunheim, and they decided to use their surplus men to launch a crusade into the orcish lands, damning them as the most heathenous of them all. They also launched an incursion into Norjarn, knowing they could trap them in their valley and slay them all. However, the Burslandic warband marching toward Norjarn was intercepted by a massive party of Vroll axe-bearers, Galelandic pikemen, and of course Rollonian seggr. Being outnumbered and outskilled, the Burslanders took heavy casualties, and the survivors fled back to the newly established "New Burlandy". Their crusades into the orcish lands were also not going very well. New Burlandy sent only heavy infantrymen wielding one-handed weaponry and shields into the land (accompanied by crossbowmen of course). As they quickly found out, however, the orcs possessed mighty warg-riding cavalry, and said cavalry burried into the infantry with such aggression that they fled at the mere sight of such huge beasts, taking heavy casualties in the process. Those that survived were executed for their cowardice, and New Burlandy prepared to face retalliation from the west after hearing news that the Aryah were defeated. But what they faced instead was not just an army from the west, but an army from all sides. In Vrollenheim, a landing party of over five hundred Noryan clans straight from Vargul landed upon their shores, and joined forces with them in their next objective. In the east, Norjarn, Vrollenheim, Kelheim, and a large army of Noryan vikingarnir marched toward New Burlandy. At the same time, in the northern lands of the orcs, a handful of orcish clans banded together and marched for New Burlandy. Meanwhile in the west, Rollonheimr sent a massive battalion to help Hjornsheim and the Vorunheim refugees make an incursion into New Burlandy. All of these forces descended upon the westerners at once, and massive bloodshed was had. The Aelo-Burslanders were utterly slaughtered, and forced into their "capital", which was enclosed on all sides allowing none to escape. In their capital, they were completely butchered, and almost none survived. The dozen or so that did were executed by the Aelonnic king for their cowardice. After this, the Rollonians expected to live in peace for a while. But they would only be granted such a luxury for a short while. After the foreign invaders were driven out, they went right back to sending Vikingarnir sea raiding parties. And for an era and a half, no one was strong enough to stand up to their abuse. This was known as the Dark Era, where coastal villages all over the known world were looted and pillaged, and a massive new religion spread among Westenlund. This religion did not spread peacefully whatsoever, but at the end of a decade, all former pagan clans were united into feudal kingdoms under a montheistic religion known as Draghonism. It's worshipers were known as Draghones, and they worshipped a god, Herran, they believed created the entire world, and that to go to their definition of paradise you must do what the High Priest, Prophet, and archangel Pahadron orders. Not long after a similar religion called Tahslem spread somewhat less violently amongst the Otomani, and then the Ecosians. Both of these religions had practices and rules uncannily similar to the Sicarii I'jin religion of Yarasim. Priests arrived in Rollonia, and started spreading the word of Draghonism, and of the Prophet Pahadron and Herran the Creator. The Rollonians laughed at him, and at some point he was murdered in his home while he slept. Several more priests were sent after that met the same fate, the pagan Rollonians saw through him and wanted nothing of their "desert faith" (it was said that Pahadron was actually being controlled by a Sicarii tribe known for being bankers, theorized after it was learned he was closely associated with them before arriving in the west). Pahadron was furious, and what happened to Rollonia next is theorized to have been because of this. This time was at first a peaceful, prosperous time for the Rollonians. The swamps of Farwater were colonized by Rollonheim, and the rest of the continent lived in peace. The statues atop the mountain Norheim were completed, and several settlements were completed and prosperred. Gold and other resources were brought in en masse by the Vikingarnir and the realms were made wealthy. All of that would soon change, however. During the end of the Third Era, Rollonheimr would experience a downfall, and the state of the land would be even worse than before. Now with the most powerful of their kingdoms in ruins, things looked bleak for Rollonia, but worse would befall them still. On a foggy night, two ships landed at the coast of Vrollenheim, and from the ships descended an enemy all too familiar. Attacking during the night, they wreaked havoc, despite being few in number. The garrison eventually dealt with these men after they sallied out. This same fate also befell the coasts of Rollonheimr, with less casualties. These incidents were thought to be scouts, but instead were distractions from what was about to happen. An enormous armada, one bigger than any of those before it, landed at the coast of Vorunheim, and they tore into the town erected after the sacking of New Burlandy. By morning, Vorunheim was in ruins, and their people driven into refuge. These invaders were the same Aelonns and Burslanders from before, but they came in superior technology than they had last time. These westerners wore shirts of cloth, mail, and steel plate, and wore helms of the same materials. They had amongst them men they called "knights", whom rode horses that wore steel plate armor like their riders. These men buried into their enemies with lances, swords, and morningstars, and shouted their warcries of "Herran ber verður gert!" (meaning "Herran's will be done" in Aelonnic). Once more Rollo was split in two, and this time it will be for a long time. For at this time, in Hjornsheim, another Aryah incursion occurred, this time a massive one that began with a stampede of mameluke cavalry. The Rollonians in Hjornsheim, composed mostly of the remnants of Rollonheimr and Vorunheim refugees, were unprepared, and retreated for the Rollunheim mainland. They found no safety in the pillaged towns torn apart by the civil war, and had to pass through the cave system, suffering attrition to cave trolls. When they arrived on the other side, they were met by a Rollonian scout, whom guided them to Skallsheim, where they were recruited into the military of the Rollonheimr remnants, scattered in various holds throughout the Alfmordir forest. Whilst the Ecosians set up encampments in their newly conquered territory, and the Aelo-Burslanders established the kingdom of Centen, the Vorumheimr refugees sought Norjarn, Vrollenheim, and Kelheim for safety. Soon, however, Kelheim would be landed upon by more Aelo-Burslander ships, and the Kellds supported them in defiance to their Rollo-Noryan overlords. The Rollonians were descended upon by the Kellds and the Aelo-Burslanders, and decided to retreat into Vrollenheim by means of ship before they lost anymore casualties. The Galelanders were displeased with this, as they now had to combat the invaders themselves, and fought a war on three fronts. Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, a bloody week or so later, something truly vile happened in Norjarn. There was an opening in the mines, and through this opening poured red-skinned men with horns and glowing red eyes, whom wielded wicked crude axes of black steel, and wore harnesses that drape black lamellar over their shoulders and torso. These strange and fearsome new opponets slew all the miners of Norjarn, and climbed from the mines to assault Norjarn. The people of Norjarn were terrified, and fled in fear of these demonic foes. They took refuge in Vrollenheimr, along with the Rollonians of Kelheimr. Not long after, the once lush and fertile valley of Norjarn became a volcanic wasteland; water turned to lava, grass to ashes, and the rocks turned black from the heat. The dark and evil oppressors of the Dis'ii would soon return, and their king Igneo would be resurrected. And in the west, the mountains between Alfmordir, Farwater and Hjornsheim were crawling with various cults, filled with renegade desert men, Westerners, and Rollonians whom abandoned their gods and started worshiping the red-skinned demons whom called themselves the Dis'ii. These cultists harassed any party that dared to pass through the mountains or the forests, and soon became a festering boil on the backside of western Rollo. They raided Centen villages occasionally and captured women and children to sacrifice, along with attempting to raid the Rollonheimr refuges in Alfmordir only to be put down brutally. At this time more ships arrived at the docks of "Centen", immigrants permitted by the west to come to Rollo as it had a lot of "uninhabited" land. Among these immigrants were workers for Centen, more Western soldiers, and even Sicarii from the desert citadel of Yarasim, whom set up their own temple to their I'jin god in the eastern half of Rollo. Many theories were passed around that the Sicarii were the cause behind the cultist uprising and the coincidence of the Aelo-Burslanders and Aryah invaders attacking at the exact same time during a misfortune in Rollonheimr. Furthermore, whenever a party of Rollonian armed men attempted to sack the temple, they were always incercepted by a party of high ranking Aelonnic knights, no matter when they tried or who knew about it. The state of the land was looking much different than it was before, the Rollo-Noryans saw what was happening to them and despaired. Their despair worsened when an enormous chunk of land, seemingly suspended in mid air by an unknown source of magic, hovered over to their land, just over the sea near Centen. Gateways opened from the isle to Centen and the sky-dwellers introduced themselves as the Order of Draghone Falcon, whose job was to seek out Draghone colonies in foreign, pagan lands, and help defend them. These men were heavily looked down upon by both the Rollonians and the Aelo-Burslanders, whom saw them as pious, corrupt cowards. Still Centen welcomed their assistance and extra troops in their garrison. Eventually "Crusaders" from the Order would be wandering all about the land, causing annoyance but little damage amongst the pagan natives, and soon after priests were sent to the pagan lands as well, accompanied by crusaders. These priests met with a bloody fate for the most part however, and as soon as they turned their backs the pagan commoners would kill them and hide their bodies. Of course when the Order requested permission to launch crusades into the orcish lands, Centen allowed it with pleasure. And although these crusades were usually either wiped out completely or slaughtered and forced to retreat, they did accomplish one thing; every orcish clan ceased infighting and banded together under the rule of a single high chieftan, Kungradr Varginak. They called themselves the Confederacy of Karnholm, named after Karnlund, the land they live in. They then became a major problem to Centen, whom scolded the Order for causing it. The axe-bearing and spear-pushing orcs began launching raids on local Centen villages and forts, causing much damage to Centen's economy and morale. This uprising of orcs inspired the rest of the pagan Rollonians, whom also banded together. Many of them sought refuge in Vrollenheim, the only remaining powerful Rollonian nation. Although they had a home, they couldn't send out sea-raiders due to the occupying of Kelheim by the Aelonns. Things were looking somewhat bleak, and some Noryan clans were heading up to Voðenn's Summit to take refuge and seek advice from their gods. There they whitnessed something truly vile; a party of twenty or so Draghone crusaders had put the village around their pantheon's statues to the torch, the commoners to the sword, and were preparing to desecrate their statues. For once, none of the crusaders were killed; they were captured instead. All of these crusaders were given the blood eagle, and hung from trees around the border of Centen as a warning. To prevent this from happening again, the Noryan clans decided to band together at the summit, and formed the Confederacy of Norheimr, and built defences around the mountain. Unlike the rest of the remaining Rollonian remnants, their home was near impossible to besiege or attack. This allowed them to send raiders toward Centen, and they caused havoc at the border between Centen and western Rollo. A few weeks of border skirmishes and village burnings later, Centen was starting to show weakness. In their "Watersend" colonies on what we knew as Kelheim, the Kellds would be closely associating with the colonists. They spread many a negative tale about the Burslanders, saying that they shouldn't be ruled by a Burslandic king. They told them that they were being taxed extra because they were Aelonns and that the Burslanders sought to extort them. Soon the local Earl believed them and decided to declare "Watersend" independant. The Kellds were not pleased, however, when Watersend signed a temporary truce with Galeland. The seceding of Watersend hurt the economy of Centen badly, having lost one of their main trading centers. In anger, King Aethelwulf declared war on Watersend and deemed them "filthy Aelonnic traitors". Many Burslanders were calling for the Aelonns to be expelled, and in the villages Aelonns were being harassed by Burslanders. Eventually most Aelonns either sailed off to Aelundy or Watersend, to join the rebels. In response to this, Centen invited Burslanders from all over to stay in their land. Despite their efforts, Centen was still weakened by this happening. With the seceding of Watersend, the sea of Unþafr was safe for Rollonian vessels once more. This then paved way for a brutal series of Vikingr raids launched from Norheimr and Vrollenheimr directed at the coast of Centen. Within two days, already one village was completely razed and two others were looted and the villagers enslaved. Some were even sent all the way to Burslunheim, to wreak havoc at the source of their foes. The world was in awe, despite everything the Rollo-Noryans still refuse to give in, and send out Vikingarnir regardless of being occupied. Centen was beginning to decline at this point, so they turned to the Order for assistance. The Order opened a gateway from Burslunheim to their floating isle, and began recruiting Bursland men en masse. Soon they would send hundreds of men to reinforce Centen's garrisons and patrols. After all that, they had a surplus of over two hundred men, whom they sent to attack Vrollenheimr. They managed to raze a single village before they were f0und by a patrol of Vroll axemen and promptly butchered. This left everything at somewhat of a standstill. Category:History